Nick Saban won seven national championship as a college head coach, with six coming at Alabama and the seventh at LSU.
He’d refuse to give anything when asked which of his championship teams was the best of them all. With seven teams to choose from, you can see why it’s not an easy question to answer.
But these title teams are the main part of Saban’s legacy. Here’s how we’d rank them from one through seven:
1. 2020 Alabama (13-0)
The 2020 Crimson Tide might not have had the same defensive stinginess as the teams of the early 2010s, but that’s less a statement about Alabama than a representation of how the sport had changed in the previous decade. Now offense rules, and this year’s team did offense better than any group in program history. (And there was never a group better than the three-headed machine of Mac Jones, DeVonta Smith and Najee Harris.) Despite the difficulty of playing amid the COVID pandemic, Alabama won 11 games against the SEC and two more in the College Football Playoff to cement its place among the best teams in program and modern college football history.
2. 2011 Alabama (12-1)
This team has a place in program and SEC history despite not winning its own division — a fact we’ll eventually hold against the 2017 Tide, in fact. But anyone who witnessed 2011 Alabama can speak to the dominance of a team that sputtered in a regular-season loss to LSU before avenging that defeat with a shutout of the Tigers in the championship game. A defense that smothered every opponent on its schedule certainly ranks in a historically elite group.
3. 2012 Alabama (13-1)
The 2012 team isn’t far behind. While there was a loss to eventual Heisman winner Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M, the Tide were improved offensively behind quarterback AJ McCarron and typically stingy on defense. After sneaking past Georgia to win the SEC in one of the great conference championship games in history, Alabama ripped past Notre Dame 42-14 to claim Saban’s third championship in Tuscaloosa and fourth overall. This team was the first in decades to win three unshared titles in a four-year span.
4. 2015 Alabama (14-1)
Whether Alabama could win another title seemed in doubt after an early conference loss to Mississippi. The Tide would quickly put those doubts to rest. The Tide won their last 12 games, all but one by double digits, and then topped Clemson 45-40 in the first of four meetings in a row in the rivalry. In all, Alabama won eight games against ranked competition and more than steadied the ship after a sluggish start.
5. 2009 Alabama (14-0)
Alabama gets points for being the lone unbeaten team of the Saban era before the 2020 team and for having the first Heisman Trophy winner in program history in running back Mark Ingram. The defense was outstanding, holding six opponents to single digits, and the Tide beat four ranked teams on the road. But there were a few close calls, notably a 12-10 win against Tennessee sealed by a blocked field goal in the final seconds.
6. 2003 LSU (13-1)
This championship came with some controversy during the pre-playoff era, as the Tigers won the BCS championship and finished No. 1 in the US LBM Coaches Poll but finished second to Southern California in the Associated Press poll. LSU lost to Florida in October but went unbeaten in five games against ranked opponents, including two matchups against Georgia and in the Sugar Bowl against Oklahoma. While he’d leave for the NFL after the following season, these Tigers embodied the program Saban would build at Alabama: LSU was dominant up front, loaded with athletes and methodical on offense.
7. 2017 Alabama (13-1)
The 2017 squad failed to win the SEC West, like the 2011 version, and were on the ropes against Georgia in the championship game before Tua Tagovailoa replaced Jalen Hurts and paced a second-half comeback. The Tide were dominant in spurts but not quite up to the standard set by the rest of the Saban-led champions. After all, the bar had been set very high. Nearly from the beginning under Saban, Alabama’s worst was better than almost everyone else’s best.
